I’m a career coach, business consultant / organizational trainer and former Fortune 500 executive. Now that I've “been there, done that” with more than 20 years of experience climbing the corporate ladder, I'm sharing the career advice you need to excel and standout in your profession as a leader. I've authored the recently released book "Secrets of a Hiring Manager Turned Career Coach: A Foolproof Guide to Getting the Job You Want. Every Time", the award-winning book “Your Career, Your Way,” and I'm blogging for Forbes and The Seattle Times. You can connect with me via www.careerwomaninc.com. Circle me on Google+

Rules For Women To Climb The Career Ladder

Are you following the rules for climbing the career ladder? (Photo credit: Microsoft Free Clip Art)

According to an article by Julie Steinberg in The Wall Street Journal, one of the reasons why women hold so few executive officer positions and board seats in Fortune 500 companies is because they often lack the types of intangible skills that are needed to gain attention from management and that lead to higher-level roles. How can women get ahead and reach the executive level? Steinberg recommends nine rules women should follow.

As the former executive vice president and general manager at a $12 billion global corporation and a certified executive coach working specifically with women and their careers, four of Steinberg’s rules stood out for me:

Work hard: What I learned during my climb of the career ladder in corporate America is that nothing will help you stand out more than doing excellent work that produces outstanding results. Not being assigned projects that will allow you to demonstrate your skills? Then volunteer to take on projects that will show your strengths and allow you to gain the necessary experience to move to the next level.

Know what you want and go for it: If you don’t know where you want to go, how will you determine how to get there? Take the time to clearly define your career aspirations and then conduct research to find out the skills and experience necessary to succeed in those positions. Once you have this information you can create a career strategic plan. Having a career plan in place will ensure you achieve your aspirations efficiently and effectively – just like using a roadmap helps you reach a destination.

Leave to get ahead: Working for a company that doesn’t recognize your talent or where a manager is blocking your career? When a boss purposely halted my career advancement, I chose to accept a position with another company. I was able to demonstrate my skills and was promoted three times within two years. Word spread quickly within the industry and the senior vice president of a different division in my former company sought me out, luring me back with a higher-level position and more responsibilities. The key in leaving to get ahead is to always refer back to rule number one; that no matter where you work, you must do excellent work that produces outstanding results.

Dress well and play golf: What you wear creates an image or perception of the type of person you are, so choosing the right attire and acting the part is critical. As the old saying goes, “perception is reality” and women wanting to reach executive-level positions need to think about and consciously determine the type of image they want to project at work by choosing appropriate clothing, hair style, and make-up.

As for playing golf, I had to laugh at this rule. As the only female on the management team of the service division of a large medical equipment corporation, one of the first actions I took was to learn to play golf. At this company, national meetings always included a golf outing and, as the only female, it was a great way to get myself noticed. Especially when on one of the golf holes I won the “longest drive” competition – you better believe management sat up and took notice!

While experts have written more rules for women in business than I could ever list in this blog, Ms. Steinberg does an outstanding job of highlighting what I agree are the top nine rules for women to climb the career ladder. However, no matter what the other rules are, never forget the number one rule that must be followed to get ahead is to do excellent work that produces outstanding results.

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Well, aren’t we a chauvinistic female!! The very idea that somehow a man would not be asked those same questions is ridiculous. I am very much a family man and gave up most all of my hobbies so I could be home with my girls most evenings and weekends. I’ve given up jobs (good jobs) because the travel got to be too much and it took me away from my family. You have many issues, but the number one issue I see is that you see motherhood as a hindrance to your career. Why get married and/or have kids in the first place?? If they are going to be the cause of so much jealousy and hatred for career men then why did you saddle yourself with them?? It is rather disgusting that people put so much stock in making it all the way to the top. You will sacrifice anything and everything around you just so you can say “look at me!!” Congratulations, you’ve made it to the top. Now, tell me why any of that matters??

Would you ever ask a male colleague to make a choice between work and family? Of course not. And there are plenty of parents–men and women–raising kids on their own who do not have the option to stay at home.

My point is simply, corporate life is built around an anachronistic paradigm that presumes children are not part of the work/life equation. These simplistic platitudes offered by the author of this post puts the onus on women rather than putting it rightly on the shoulders of changing organizational structure and what constitutes productivity and success.

We all make choices. That’s for certain. But we are stunting the professional contributions of at least 50% of the population by continuing to buy into a model that no longer works for most.

I couldn’t agree more! This is only good for the short-term goals of getting noticed and moving up the ladder but then you are right… you will hit a speed-bump of life! Then, you will have to choose, family life or the career with additional support. You always have a choice. Mine was to recreate myself and my career path! So, when my career encountered my family life, I chose a different route… now I have control over my time, energy and vision for the long-term goals!

I could not agree more with Aisha & Sabrina. Some of these “rules” are a give and apply not only to women but men as well. On the other hand, some of these “rules” are questionable & almost laughable. Do work no one else wants to do – if you want to climb that ladder you can’t be happy doing it? Promote yourself legitimately – instead of spreading your legs? What is the implication here? Which other way would ANYONE promote themselves?

Really? Is this really the advice we are giving women? Ladies, if you dress well and play golf you’ll get to the top. Good luck!

In other words, do what African Americans have had to do for years. Oh now the secret is out. We have to change our tactics. Actually this was a good article. At DKWTechnik I don’t care whether you are black, white, female, mineral or vegetable just do a good job and don’t make excuses. That should be the norm at every company ‘if you ask me’.

Interesting..the same rules that apply to women would apply to men as well. Not sure there is any difference in the Men/Women career ladder thing…there is a limited number of openings with a lot of people wanting them… Nature will take care of things…

Despite the debate on women / children / workplace which I’ll avoid for now – I do think this list should apply to women, and I think a lot of career-driven women do follow these already. So I don’t necessarily think that we are promoted less because we don’t follow them. I also don’t completely agree with #2 on this list. Maybe it depends what type of career you have, but in my industry doing the work that nobody else wants to do usually means you’d end up doing stuff that would otherwise be given to an intern or junior level staff. I think you should do work that supports your career goals. If nobody else wants the work because it’s challenging, that’s one thing, and probably worth doing. But if it’s work that nobody wants because it’s mundane busy work that’s another story. Learning to say “no” (or at least trying to to get put on worthwhile projects) can help keep your career on target.

These are all great points and are all useful for women to climb the career ladder, but I think these points can apply to anyone that wants to further their career. The advice works regardless of gender.